The rise of social media has been considered the source of many of society’s maladies, such as depression, polarisation of politics, and a general decline in people’s well-being. While it’s easier to blame society’s ills on the newest phenomena, Ian Leslie argues that many of these supposed negative effects were on the rise decades prior to social media. He’s more inclined to pin these on the long-term decline of organised religion, as multiple studies have shown that religious people are more likely to have higher well-being. Read full article here
Societal Issues
AI Predicts Crime A Week In Advance With 90 Per Cent Accuracy
An artificial intelligence model built by Ishanu Chattopadhyay and his colleagues analysed crime data in Chicago from 2014 to 2016 and managed to predict future levels of crime down to the nearest 300 metres, a week before they actually happened. While extremely useful, this artificial intelligence has been shown to expose racial prejudice in law enforcement. Hopefully, as the study’s data and methodology have been made available for others to evaluate, these prejudices can be avoided in the next iteration. Read full article here
Merv
August 15, 2022
